Why PARK(ing) Day?

Identified pedestrian spaces in the public realm not only promote creativity, generate social interactions, encourage curiosity/generosity/play and create opportunities for critical thinking, but they improve the quality of urban human habitat and the overall quality of life.

PARK(ing) Day London is a grassroots initiative being developed by citizens who are concerned about the make up of urban spaces in London, Ontario.

Worried that paved areas and a car-centered downtown often take precedent over pedestrian oriented spaces, PARK(ing) Day it just one way for citizens to make change happen. PARK(ing) Day is one event that hopes to answer the question “How do we create more community gathering places?“ that came out of ChageCamp London. By creating these public spaces, even if only temporarily, we are expressing our concern towards the lack of these community gathering places and our dedication to ensuring that the future of London has a place for them.

By providing temporary public open space in a privatized part of town citizens, businesses, politicians and municipal employees are hoping to take back (even if only temporary) privatized portions of the street in order to make a dramatic statement about the urban morphology of not only the downtown core but of London in general.

PARK(ing) Day is strictly a non-commercial project, intended to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play.

By transforming spaces typically reserved for motor vehicles into spaces that can be better utilized by a greater % of the population, PARK(ing) Day London hopes to start an open dialog focused on the best uses for urban spaces and hopes to spark long term change.

PARK(ing) Day London was suggest by Kevin Van Lierop, although the ownership of it belongs to a much larger concerned community.